


When You Wake

by kiyala



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 02:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Eve and Grantaire's having nightmares.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Wake

Grantaire is a solid sleeper, and when he sleeps, there is nothing in the world that will rouse him before he's ready to be awake. It's not always a good thing, and it can be incredibly frustrating when they need to be awake for something early in the morning and Enjolras is left to wake Grantaire, who simply does not respond to alarms, or shakes of his shoulder, or anything short of a glass of water thrown in his face. (Enjolras had done that, once, and if the sight of Grantaire coughing and spluttering, his eyes wide and confused weren't enough to do it, the perpetual bad mood he'd been in for the rest of the day had definitely been enough to make Enjolras decide to never make plans so early in the morning again.) 

So when Enjolras wakes in the middle of the night to Grantaire tossing and turning, he immediately knows that something is wrong. It's Christmas Eve or, Enjolras supposes once he glances at the red digits of the bedside clock, informing him that it's eighteen past two, technically Christmas Day. The first Christmas since they've gotten together. They'd had a wonderful dinner, which Grantaire had cooked from scratch, and then fucked each other to exhaustion, curling up in each other's arms in the afterglow, kissing until they'd fallen asleep. 

Except now, Grantaire is breathing heavily in his sleep, his eyes darting back and forth beneath his eyelids, his brow furrowed. Enjolras knows that he's dreaming and whatever it is, it must not be particularly pleasant. Propping himself up with an elbow, Enjolras watches Grantaire with concern, pushing his dark, sweat-damp hair back from his face. Then Grantaire whimpers brokenly, and Enjolras frowns, moving his hand to Grantaire's shoulder instead.

"Grantaire," he says quietly, and he isn't really surprised when it has no effect. He tries again, louder, only to receive the same result. His frown deepens as he watches Grantaire twitch in his sleep, looking incredibly upset, while Enjolras is powerless to do anything about it. "Grantaire, come on, wake up. It's just a dream." 

Grantaire continues to sleep, until the events of whatever nightmare he's having culminate and he wakes with a startled cry, eyes flying open as his arms flail about, whacking Enjolras in the shoulder. 

"Grantaire." Enjolras' tone is firm, even though it's quiet. He takes Grantaire's hand into his own and squeezes. "Grantaire, you're okay. It was just a dream. You're fine. I'm here."

"Enjolras," Grantaire breathes with so much relief that Enjolras has no hope of holding back his smile. Grantaire leans up, resting their foreheads against each other. "You're okay."

"Of course I am," Enjolras murmurs, cupping Grantaire cheek with his hand. "We're both absolutely fine."

Grantaire wraps his arms around Enjolras and clings tightly, without saying a word. Enjolras carefully settles them back against the headboard, wrapping one arm around Grantaire's shoulders as the other continues to hold his hand. He doesn't know if he's waiting for Grantaire to explain, because he doesn't know if Grantaire _will_ , but for now, he's happy to just sit there, periodically pressing kisses into Grantaire's hair. 

"In my dream," Grantaire says at length, his voice so quiet that Enjolras has to strain to hear him, even in the dead of the night, "I took you home with me for Christmas with my family, and it was… nice, to begin with. Except then my father started on his bigoted views, and you're not exactly the kind of person to take that, so you started arguing back…"

It sounds fairly realistic so far, Enjolras muses, but knows better than to say that aloud. Even if Grantaire knows it too, it's not what he needs to hear right now. Enjolras doesn't particularly see why that would have upset Grantaire the way it did, but he waits for Grantaire to continue, which he does after taking a deep breath and swallowing.

"Except then instead of being at my parents' house, we were at a rally, and my family had turned into a whole riot squad and…"

Grantaire doesn't need to continue for Enjolras to get the picture. His arm might not be broken any more, but the cast had come off less than a month ago. He remembers the expression on Grantaire's face when he'd been sitting at Enjolras' bedside in the hospital, while even Combeferre's voice trembled as he explained that Enjolras had a concussion after being hit in the head with a baton, stating that they were _lucky_ that all Enjolras had received was a broken arm and twenty minutes of unconsciousness. Grantaire is wearing the same expression now, and Enjolras pulls him into a deep kiss, both to calm him as well as apologise. 

"I'm fine now." 

" _Now_ ," Grantaire repeats, and that's the entire problem. He's worried it's going to happen again, that it's going to be worse the next time, and he doesn't need to put any of that into words because it's clear in the way he looks at Enjolras now, the lingering sheen to his eyes that has been there since he woke. 

"I'll be careful from now on," Enjolras tells him. "I'm not going to stop—"

"—I'm not asking that of you—"

"—But I couldn't stand to scare you like that again."

"Good," Grantaire says with a quiet, shaky laugh. "Because I don't think I could stand being _scared_ like that again. I know that rallies can turn into riots and I _know_ that you can get yourself hurt. You don't stay friends with Bahorel for as long as I have without learning to take a few broken bones in stride, but seeing you crumple like that… thinking _what if it had been worse_ to myself…"

"Don't," Enjolras murmurs. "Don't think that."

Grantaire laughs unhappily. "Might as well as me not to breathe. I can't help it, Enjolras. I close my eyes and it comes to me and… I don't know what I would do if it was worse. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"Sit at my bedside and say _I told you so_ ," Enjolras murmurs with a small smile.

"Are you kidding? Combeferre would kill me if I took that away from him." Grantaire manages to return Enjolras' smile, though, which is a victory in itself. Wrapping his arms around Enjolras again, Grantaire presses his face into the golden curls. "I love you more than anything else in the world, you know."

Enjolras _does_ know, and for the longest time, it had paralysed him with fear to think about it. He takes on enough burdens of his own choosing, but for Grantaire to place this one on his shoulders as well had felt unfair. It had made Enjolras incredibly aware of how easy it would be to get something wrong, to do permanent damage to Grantaire. For the longest time, it had made Enjolras unwilling to address it, or his own feelings in return. Now, he can only feel incredibly relieved that he's overcome that.

"I love you too," he murmurs, pulling Grantaire closer as they sink further down into bed. Enjolras rests his head back on his pillow, while Grantaire rests his head on Enjolras' chest. Grantaire shuffles slowly as if that will keep Enjolras from realising that he's trying to position his ear just right, so that it sits just above Enjolras' heart. He's overwhelmed by a rush of fondness and he runs his fingers through Grantaire's hair, saying it again. "I love you, Grantaire. Go to sleep. I'm right here."

The next morning, they both sleep right through the breakfast that Joly, Bossuet and Musichetta are hosting. Enjolras wakes close to ten-thirty, only to be pinned under Grantaire's weight, unable to move for another half hour until Grantaire wakes up as well. 

For a first Christmas together, Enjolras thinks it's perfect.


End file.
